Tax officer discusses IKEA error costly to city

By Associated Press

For the AJC

A tax officer says the Chatham County Assessor's Office placed an IKEA furniture distribution center in the unincorporated county at the same time it put the center's contents in Port Wentworth.

The Savannah Morning News reports that interim Chief Appraiser Maryellen Burner discussed the discrepancy Tuesday as she was questioned about what led to the error.

Port Wentworth slashed its budget after the error was discovered. The city was faced with having to repay more than $400,000 in taxes because of the error.

Burner also said a new computer program led to last summer's discovery that an employee had incorrectly placed the inventory in the city when it went on the tax roll in 2008. Burner said they could have done nothing to detect the mistake earlier.